Florida is a puzzle of micro-climates that often feature wildly different weather conditions just a few miles away. Thursday morning’s low temperatures were all over the board, ranging from the mid-30s around Lake Okeechobee to 54 to the south in Homestead.

Here’s another case in point: While Palm Beach and Central Palm Beach County have had a very dry month, just 51 miles to our south Fort Lauderdale has been socked by more than 10 inches of rain in November, including two record daily rainfall events.

The most recent occurred Wednesday, when the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport picked up 1.37 inches of rain, beating the old mark of 1.35 inches set in 1974. Six days earlier, the airport reported a 5.02-inch deluge, smashing the record of 2.88 set in 1912.

That gives Fort Lauderdale a monthly total of 10.68 inches of rain in November, 7.65 above the 30-year average (1981-2010) but short of the all-time monthly record of 14.60 inches set in 1994.

Palm Beach International Airport, meanwhile, has struggled with a rainfall deficit all month, and the 2.77-inch November total is still 1.71 inches below average. There is a slight chance of a shower or two blowing through off the Atlantic before Saturday, when November 2013 will go into the books. But it looks like that precipitation deficit will remain.

The dry November at PBIA comes on the heels of a rainfall deficit of almost 4 inches for Palm Beach in October, after a roughly average September with a surplus of 0.75 of an inch. When our meteorological autumn ends Saturday night, it looks like PBIA will come in with about 13 inches for the season, compared to a 30-year average of 19.11 inches.

Fort Lauderdale with weigh in with a seasonal total of almost 18 inches of rain, just shy of the September-November average thanks to a drier September and October.

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TURKY CHILLY: This morning’s low at the airport was 10 degrees warmer than Thanksgiving morning, at 57 degrees. It was actually a degree cooler, at 56, in Palm Beach.

Lows over the weekend should only be near 70, though, with highs near 80. The next cold front is due Monday but it’ll be a weak one, knocking temperatures back just a few degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Miami.

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TROPICAL UPDATE: The low pressure system in the Central Atlantic, designated Invest 90L by the National Hurricane Center, was weakening and NHC forecasters cut the chances of development into a subtropical storm to 10 percent.

The disturbance was half-way between the Lesser Antilles and the Azores and was moving northeast with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph.

About the Author

John Nelander is a freelance writer, book editor and publisher in West Palm Beach. Weather Matters features news and observations about the weather with a focus on what's happening in South Florida. The blog also looks at the latest studies on climate change as well as what's happening in the weather forecasting biz. His website is www.pbeditorialservices.com.